Malaysia ‘Truly Asia’ charmed by ‘God’s Own Country’

Trivandrum: Kerala Tourism has made a successful foray into the South East Asia market with its first-ever roadshow in Malaysia drawing an enthusiastic response.

A well-attended roadshow in Malaysia, held in the skyscraper-filled Kuala Lumpur, presented a peep into the various tourism attractions in Kerala to an eager audience that included several high-profile representatives of Malaysia’s influential tourism sector.

Attended by as many as 14 trade partners from Kerala, the roadshow was an opportunity for the state’s tourism sector representatives to interact for the first time with their Malaysian counterparts on their own soil.

“The response to our first roadshow in Malaysia has been tremendous,” said Kerala Tourism Director, P I Sheik Pareeth, who led the delegation from the state. “Malaysia, which has a very large Indian diaspora, is an important market for Kerala. The highly discerning travellers from this country are going to be a major addition to the rapidly increasing foreign tourist arrivals in our state.”

India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia, Dr Acquino Vimal, was the chief guest at the roadshow, held at the Shangri-La-Hotel in the Malaysian business capital.

“The Malaysian business community evinced a keen interest in the tourism products offered by Kerala,” Pareeth said. There were 42 important tourism agents among the 67 business representatives who attended the Kerala Tourism roadshow.

Kerala has been seeing a substantial increase in tourist arrivals from Malaysia. In 2013, 24, 237 Malaysians visited Kerala, a rise of 43.24 % over the previous year.